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National
Josh Taylor (now) and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Victoria reports 149 new cases and 24 deaths as NSW records six infections – as it happened

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End of the day Wednesday 26 August

That is where we will leave the live blog for this evening. If you want to follow the latest global coronavirus news you can follow our other live blog here.

Here’s what we learned today:

  • Victoria recorded 24 deaths from Covid-19 and 149 new cases.
  • New South Wales reported six new Covid cases, five with an unknown source of transmission.
  • Queensland recorded one new case of Covid-19.
  • A two year old child, Isabella Lee Pin Loong, who spent her whole life in immigration detention was released in Melbourne.
  • NSW Police commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed it was the police who requested private security guards for hotel quarantine.
  • A bipartisan national security committee of parliament has recommended public interest advocates check on warrants to be issued against journalists over their work.
  • Victoria has issued 19,324 fines for public health order breaches, including 1,669 for failing to wear a mask and 2,145 to those breaching the curfew.

Updated

A new case of Covid-19 in NSW visited the Royal Hospital for Women at Randwick yesterday, NSW Health says.

The case is linked to the City Tattersalls gym, visited the hospital on the morning of Tuesday, 25 August and visited the Windscreens Café. The café has been closed for cleaning.

The person followed the rules for hospital visitors and only developed symptoms later in the day. There is no ongoing risk to patients, NSW Health says. The hospital is currently identifying close contacts.

In other hotspot news from NSW:

Anyone who went to City Tattersalls between 8am and 2pm on 19, 21 or 23 August are considered to be close contacts and should be tested and isolate at home for 14 days.

Other members should get tested if they have any symptoms.

People who attended the Active Dance class at 7.40pm on 24 August at Virgin Gym Zetland are also considered close contacts and should isolate for 14 days.

Updated

Catastrophic fire danger rating issued for parts of the NT tomorrow.

Updated

Labor has welcomed the press freedom recommendations (which they supported in the committee’s minority), saying if the public interest advocate had been in place to contest the warrants, then the raids on the ABC and Annika Smethurst’s home might have turned out differently.

Warrants against journalists should be contestable in court in advance: committee

The bipartisan joint standing committee on intelligence and security has recommended warrants for raids on journalists and media be contestable in court by a public interest advocate.

In its long-awaited report on press freedom, and in particular the impact national security laws have had on freedom of the press, the committee, chaired by Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, made 16 recommendations including:

  • The AFP should advise journalists and media companies when they are no longer persons of interest, when doing so wouldn’t jeopardise an investigation
  • The public interest advocate scheme set up to contest journalist warrants under mandatory data retention should be expanded to cover other acts related to journalist’s reporting on national security issues, but media should not be informed of warrants in advance
  • A review of all secrecy provisions in commonwealth law
  • For the government to consider a way journalists can consult with national security agencies on stories in the public interest with classified information without the threat of an investigation or prosecution
  • Bring in long-recommended changes to the Public Interest Disclosure Act
  • Harmonising shield laws
  • Training for uniform freedom of information culture across government departments to ensure consistency in application of the law.

You can find the report here.

Updated

So many rejections of the premise or assertions.

Good afternoon from Melbourne on day 24/42 of stage-four lockdown.

The Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry has published a list of who will be appearing before the inquiry over the next two days.

Thursday’s hearing will focus on the role of the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions in establishing the program, and will hear from three public servants, including Gonul Serbest, the chief executive of Global Victoria.

Serbest appeared in a promotional video in April talking up the department’s success in setting up the program, which is somewhat awkward in hindsight.

On Friday, people representing Travelodge, Crown, Four Points, Rydges and Stamford Plaza will have their say on the role of the hotels.

The hotels have been keen to distance themselves from what has happened, pointing the finger back at the Victorian government managing hotel quarantine within the hotels.

Updated

And on that note, and still reeling from Penny Wong’s attack on Richard Colbeck, I am going to hand you over to the very lovely Josh Taylor for the rest of the day.

I’ll be back tomorrow for the last sitting day of the week – there is another sitting next week, and then the MPs are out of Canberra until the budget is handed down in October.

But first, we have to get through day 790 of 2020.

Thank you so much for joining me – and remember – take care of you. Ax

Updated

Liberal MP Julian Leeser has just tabled the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security report on media freedom.

Leeser said that since the raids on the ABC and Annika Smethurst the government has improved media freedom, but the committee believes there are “other opportunities for further reform” to better balance national security and public interest journalism.

The committee has rejected media companies’ request to provide exemptions for journalists from offences of disclosing national security information – but it did suggest the government should consider defences to secrecy offences for public interest journalism.

Other recommendations included:

  • Public interest advocates should have a say in hearings for a warrant relating to an offence of disclosing confidential government information to journalists.
  • For offences where national security encroaches on press freedom, warrants should be issued by a judge of a superior court of record (rather than, say, a registrar)
  • Public servants should have access to robust processes to blow the whistle before approaching journalists
  • There should be mechanisms for journalists to coordinate with agencies that created national security protected information without the threat of prosecution
  • There should be an audit of whether classification of documents is applied appropriately

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, was more absolute in declaring that no journalist should face jail or be charged for doing their job, and criticised Scott Morrison for his view before the inquiry that nothing needed to change in the balance between national security and press freedom.

Updated

Penny Wong is not asked about Richard Colbeck while speaking to Patricia Karvelas – but asks to make some comments on him as the interview ends.

This is an extraordinary comment from one senator to another, even if they are on opposing sides.

Can I just say something quickly about Richard Colbeck? You know, I sit in the Senate every day with this bloke, and I tell you, Patricia, I would not trust the care of my parents to him.

We have heard several Labor MPs (and Greens MPs) call for Colbeck to be sacked as aged care minister – but that went beyond that.

Wong is asked to elaborate and says:

I genuinely do not believe this man understands what it is to be a responsible minister in the portfolio.

I do not believe he is competent.

I think, you know, we watch him in the Senate, talking about process and webinars and letters and talking, in circumstances where it is clear he has been – he has been warned by their own taskforce, by their own royal commission, and by the events in Australia in the sector itself this year.

I mean, to suggest that the workforce, they didn’t plan for withdrawal of the workforce, when we saw what happened in Newmarch House, is extraordinary.

Updated

It sounds like the press freedom report is being tabled in the parliament.

Paul Karp is listening to that for you.

It will be available here, when it is tabled.

Updated

Penny Wong is now talking to Patricia Karvelas – she is asked about what Wang Xining said about the lack of consultation with the CCP:

On the inquiry, I’ve made quite a few comments, and I think it’s important to distinguish between the what and the how. On the actual call for an inquiry, we made clear, in the context of a global pandemic, it is an entirely reasonable proposition to understand how it occurred, so we can prevent it happening again. So that was an entirely reasonable proposition. I did make the point that it would have been preferable, rather than Marise Payne announcing it on Insiders, that for there to have been some diplomatic work prior to the announcement, particularly with other countries who were supportive.

Updated

Josh has an update on the CovidSafe app:

Dave Sharma, a former ambassador, is being asked about Wang Xining’s comments today, about the call for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus and the original response being “hurtful” for the relationship.

Sharma tells Patricia Karvelas:

I mean, I think we were quite careful not to single out China. I know other countries chose to do so. But we were very clear all along that we wanted to get to the origins and the causes of this outbreak.

Now, it’s a matter of public record that the first cluster of cases, as the Chinese deputy head of mission himself conceded, was in Wuhan, China. I don’t think that’s a controversial proposition. That’s well-known. And it was well-publicised at the time.

Updated

So many shiny happy faces in QT today.

(To be fair, I look like a troll woken from hibernation too early. Day 789 of 2020 is hitting us all hard.)

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and prime minister Scott Morrison during question time
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and prime minister Scott Morrison during question time. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Nationals leader Michael McCormack and Keith Pitt during question time
Nationals leader Michael McCormack and Keith Pitt during question time. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Barnaby Joyce during question time
Barnaby Joyce during question time. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Prof Paul Kelly gives a very diplomatic answer to a question on the Wang Xining’s earlier claim at the press club that the coronavirus may not have originated in Wuhan:

The question of the origin of the virus hasn’t been asked for a while, it was early on something of great interest.

I am much more focused now on what’s happening in Victoria, and what’s happening around the world. It continues to be a global pandemic of massive proportions. Thousands and thousands people every day being affected, hundreds and hundreds of people around the world dying from this virus.

So, right now, I’m more interested in what we can learn about controlling the virus and particularly developments of vaccines and effective treatments, rather than where it came from.

But you are correct, the Australian government is very interested and as a scientist I am very interested in the origins of this particular virus and what we can learn for the next time, if it happens again.

...[Let’s look at the facts] We know the first cases reported, those of the facts came from Wuhan, whether it was we hand will be a matter for the WHO lead team, who will investigate this, when it comes to happen, Australia has been very much at the forefront of asking for that particular independent look at the origin of the virus, and I’m sure we will learn a lot at that time.

Updated

Prof Paul Kelly:

In terms of mental health, and Telehealth, that’s obviously decisions about what happens to that into the future is a decision for government, not the AHPCC, but certainly the AHPCC, and the health professions more broadly have welcomed Telehealth, as have indeed people who have, as healthcare seekers, sought care through that mechanism.

That’s a decision of government that will be made over coming days, weeks, in relation to the future of Telehealth. Mental health issues are very clearly an important component of this pandemic.

We know specifically in Melbourne and other parts of Victoria, this is a very hard time for them, in terms of mental health and well-being, that’s why the government has actually put insubstantial funding, into mental health especially in Victoria, but also more broadly. Where Telehealth will fit as part of those mechanisms will be decided by government over the next period.

Updated

Acting chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, is giving today’s update:

In Victoria, 149 new cases today, six new cases in New South Wales, one of those overseas acquired in hotel quarantine, and the other fives bill being investigated now. And that is all in terms of the Australian situation in new cases.

Updated

The parliamentary joint intelligence and security committee report into press freedom is also due to be tabled this afternoon (it was slated for after QT).

Updated

Home to Bilo have responded to the news Isabella and her mum Huyen have been released from immigration detention:

The Home to Bilo team are overjoyed at the news that Isabella and her mum Huyen have been released from the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) to be reunited with their father and husband Paul in Melbourne.

Isabella was Tharnicaa and Kopika’s only playmate when they were detained in MITA and Huyen was a great support for Priya and Nades as they navigated the difficulty of parenting in detention together.

The release of Isabella and Huyen shows just how easily this process can occur. While they will never get back the time wasted in detention, they will now have a chance to heal and live together as a family.

This reminds us that if they can do the right thing for little Isabella and her mum, then we know that they can do the exact same for our family.

With the release of Isabella it now means Kopika and Tharnicaa are the only children remaining in detention in Australia.

In learning the news Priya states: “I’m so happy to hear that Isabella, Huyen and Paul can live together as a family. They have had a very difficult time in detention, every day is hard in detention. But today is a good day for them. I am waiting in hope that the government will make a similar decision for my family, so we can rejoin our community in Biloela.”

Updated

At the National Press Club earlier today, Wang Xining, the deputy head of mission of China’s embassy in Australia, argued that diplomatic channels between the two countries remained open, at least at the level of officials.

But he said there were “some shadows” over the relationship “so we need to make our position much more clear in order to remove the shadows”.

He played down talk of Australian ministers like Simon Birmingham and Marise Payne being unable to secure a phone call with their Chinese counterparts, saying he did not think the embassy in Canberra had received any requests for such a call – although he left open the possibility such requests may have been made via the Australian embassy in Beijing.

I received a phone call from one of your ministers, several months ago, talking about a trade issue. If we receive a request, it will be done in a very diplomatic way, through diplomatic channel.

After the National Press Club event ended, Wang fielded a few more questions from reporters, seeking to clarify the claim that no specific requests for calls had been made:

My embassy has not received any requests recently ... We are waiting for the request of the government and it will be [handled] in a very diplomatic manner.

Pressed on any such request would also be handled in a timely manner, he repeated the original formulation: “It will be done in a diplomatic manner.”

He said China hoped the Australian side would work with us to create a good atmosphere for the relationship to grow.

Updated

Victoria Health has also issued its official data:

In Victoria at the current time:

  • 4,116 cases may indicate community transmission.
  • 3,488 cases are currently active in Victoria.
  • 578 cases of coronavirus are in hospital, including 39 in intensive care.
  • 14,572 people have recovered from the virus.
  • A total of 2,132,679 test results have been received which is an increase of 13,480 since yesterday.

Of the 3,488 current active cases in Victoria:

  • 3,135 are in metropolitan Melbourne under stage 4 restrictions.
  • 203 are in regional local government areas under stage 3 restrictions.
  • 139 are either unknown or subject to further investigation.
  • 11 are interstate residents.
  • Greater Geelong has 66 active cases, Bendigo has 23 active cases and Ballarat has six active cases.

Of the total cases:

  • 17,026 cases are from metropolitan Melbourne, while 1112 are from regional Victoria.
  • Total cases include 8,906 men and 9,663 women.
  • Total number of healthcare workers: 2,799, active cases: 434.
  • There are 1,487 active cases relating to aged care facilities.

Active aged care outbreaks with the highest cumulative case numbers are as follows:

  • 211 cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping.
  • 195 cases have been linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner.
  • 169 cases have been linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee.
  • 159 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer.
  • 138 cases have been linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth.
  • 120 cases have been linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility in Sunshine North.
  • 118 cases have been linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir.
  • 113 cases have been linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North.
  • 111 cases have been linked to Japara Goonawarra Aged Care Facility in Sunbury.
  • 109 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg.

In Victoria there are currently 50 active cases in residential disability accommodation:

  • Total resident cases: 13; Total Staff cases: 37.
  • Active cases in NDIS homes: 39 (13 residents).
  • Active cases in ‘transfer’ homes (state regulated/funded): 11 (0 residents).
  • Active cases in state government delivered and funded homes: 0.

Updated

There is a national Covid update coming up in the next few minutes.

We’ll bring you any news from that when it starts.

Over in the Senate, we’ve just heard a rather interesting development in the case of Bernard Collaery, the former ACT attorney general on trial for talking about Australia’s spying on its tiny, developing neighbour Timor-Leste during oil and gas negotiations.

Collaery is fighting the allegation that he disclosed protected intelligence information and has subpoenaed documents from a bunch of agencies and entities, including Woodside, the operator of the oil and gas fields.

The Senate has just heard that the government, through attorney general Christian Porter, intervened in the case to stop Woodside documents going to Collaery before it could have a look. It was using powers in the National Security Information Act to determine whether any of the documents needed to be kept secret.

“How is it possible that an energy company such as Woodside could be in possession of documents that could contain matters related to national security? Or is this simply the attorney further abusing the NSI Act?” Patrick asked.

Responding on behalf of Porter, Marise Payne, the foreign affairs minister, said the intervention was appropriate, reasonable, and not uncommon in such cases.

She said the information in the Woodside documents may have included “national security” information, which, under the act, includes material affecting international relations, including economic relations with foreign governments.

“It was appropriate for the attorney-general to have an opportunity to consider whether to issue a certificate under the act, or whether any other formal application or claim ought to have been made in relation to any documents produced by Woodside,” Payne said.

“The application was allowed by the court. Ultimately Mr President, I would note to the chamber and to senator Patrick, that the commonwealth did not seek any protection orders and the documents were provided to the parties.

We’ll have more on this story shortly.

Updated

And question time ends.

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

My question is addressed to the prime minister: Why won’t the prime minister take full responsibility for the consequences of his $1.7bn cut to aged care which made older Australians worse off before the pandemic and left residents of aged care homes more vulnerable to the deadly Covid virus?

Morrison:

Mr Speaker, once again, the leader of the ppposition comes forward and says there were cuts to funding to aged care. Mr Speaker, when funding goes up every year, that means there’s more funding each year.

When there’s a cut to funding, Mr Speaker, it means there’s less funding.

Now, these issues may be beyond the wisdom of the leader of the opposition and his apprentice shadow treasurer, Mr Speaker, with the training wheels still on to understand these issues, Mr Speaker, ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’.

...When funding goes up every year by $1bn and more, that’s a good thing.

And Mr Speaker, that is what has been happening with aged care funding in this country. That’s why the number of in-home aged care places has risen from 60,000 to more than 150,000, Mr Speaker, under our government, and will continue to increase. That’s why the number of residential aged care places and funding for residential aged care places has increased under our government, Mr Speaker.

That is why we have put in place the aged Care Quality Commissioner. That is why, Mr Speaker, we have continued to support reforms in the aged care sector and, in particular...

Albanese interjects to ask for the question to be addressed.

Morrison continues:

I couldn’t have been more [clear the comments made by the leader] of the opposition, [are] exactly the same misleading remarks made by the previous leader of the opposition, Mr Speaker. He probably did it with more credibility than this one, but what is true is that the government has been increasing the funding for aged care, as I and the health minister in response to many questions today have been able to demonstrate to the House and the Australian people.

There is more funding, Mr Speaker.

There is more funding and more than $1bn in additional funding to go to the Covid-19 response, that why, despite there being, extreme and severe impact on four facilities in Victoria, Mr Speaker, and a new march, and Dorothy Henderson Lodge, which, compared to what happened in Victoria which was even worse in Victoria in those four centres, it was unacceptable and the government has made that very clear. I have issued an apology in relation to those four facilities and that is what is called taking responsibility.

What the leader of the opposition does seem to have as a blindspot to what is happening in Victoria, he seems to be the only person in this country thinks there has been no community outbreak of the coronavirus in Victoria, and that that has had an impact right across Victoria, which has got people locked up in their homes at the moment, and under severe stress and strain as a result of what has occurred in Victoria. We have worked hard to mitigate the impact on the aged care centre.

Updated

Yup

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

I refer to comments of the Liberal MP for Monash, Russell Broadbent, who yesterday said he’d sounded warnings bout the aged care sector for years “but I was ignored completely”. If the prime minister won’t listen to Labor and won’t listen to his own royal commissioners, will he at least listen to his own backbench and acknowledge that his cuts of $1.7bn have contributed to the problem?

That is in relation to this story from Murph:

Morrison:

I note the comments made by the leader of the opposition referring to the comments by the member for Monash. Mr Speaker, the member for Monash – like, I think, all members of this place – feels passionately about the care that is provided to elderly Australians.

He has been passionate about that for as long as I have known him, Mr Speaker. From my very first speech in this place, my maiden speech as we sat together on those opposition benches alongside the member for McMillan, as he was known then, Mr Speaker – I’ve always known him as someone who speaks his mind and to speak passionately in our party room, and he will always stand up for his constituents in his community, and that’s why he’s been returned to this place, I believe, on so many occasions.

In fact, Mr Speaker, back in 2017, he raised many of these issues – in fact, stood down from two parliamentary positions in relation to the way that he believed that his issues needed to be addressed.

This was a significant factor, I can tell you, Mr Speaker – that after I became prime minister, because of the many times I’d heard Russell Broadbent get to his feet, I believed we needed to have a royal commission into aged care.

Mr Speaker, I know that the member for Monash...was very pleased to see the fact that we introduced that royal commission into aged care. The member for McMillan said successive governments over 30 years, Mr Speaker - he refers to as the failings in aged care – over 30 years, Mr Speaker.

And he knows that. And his comments reflect the frustration he has had over a long career in this parliament.

And the challenges we have to deal with in aged care address and will need to address, Mr Speaker, failings over a long period of time by governments of all persuasions. And these failings have occurred in private sector operators, not-for-profit operators, and indeed public sector operators.

In fact, the royal commission followed the terrible events that we saw at the Oakden aged care facility in South Australia, Mr Speaker, which was a publicly run facility. Mr Speaker, whether it’s public, private or not-for-profit is not the issue.

What the issue is is ensuring that we get the funding to where it needs to be done, that we can continue to train the workforce and continue to lift the standards, and ensure the clinical training is there so that people who are in aged care facilities get the care and the dignity and respect that they deserve.

That is something that the member for Monash and I agree passionately on together.

Updated

Exceptionally normal behaviour from a government MP, personally saved from a pre-selection dumping by at least two prime ministerial interventions.

Ken O’Dowd once again learns what his very burning question for the minister is, at the same time we do.

Keith Pitt, continuing his love of wide striped ties, tells us O’Dowd is known as the “member for coal”.

I know some other names for O’Dowd from people on the ground, but my oma raised me better than that.

Updated

Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison:

The government’s report on the deadly Covid outbreak at Newmarch House said families reported weight loss, dehydration, pressure sores and increases in urinary tract and skin infections amongst fragile residents. Why hasn’t the prime minister taken full responsibility for the consequences of his $1.7bn cut to aged care?

Morrison:

I thank the member for his question. I’ve already addressed the misleading remarks that he has presented again, Mr Speaker.

I mean, it would seem that the opposition that is being presented here – the Labor Party that is being presented here – is just an outdated version of what was rejected, Mr Speaker, by the people at the last election.

And they continue to go forward and put these false things forward, just as they did before the last election.

And here they are again, Mr Speaker, doing exactly the same thing.

Updated

And while we are on the subject of the aged care royal commission, here is part of the submission from the counsel assisting the commission, Peter Rozen QC:

The federal government, which has sole responsibility for aged care, was firmly on notice early in 2020 about the many challenges the sector would face if there were outbreaks of Covid-19.

That notice came from a variety of sources.

a. First, the limitations of the aged care workforce had been well documented in reports such the 2018 report of the Aged Care Workforce Taskforce. 22 The sector is understaffed and lacks nurses with clinical skills;

b. Secondly, it was widely reported that, in both Europe and North America, residents in nursing homes were dying in large numbers as a result of Covid-19;

c. Thirdly, the Interim Report of this Royal Commission in October 2019 revealed a range of problems that beset the sector including workforce challenges, governance problems and the challenges associated with the interface between the aged care sector and the state health systems; 23 and

d. Finally, individuals like Professor Joseph Ibrahim and organisations such as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), had raised their concerns about the sector’s lack of preparedness for Covid-19 and offered solutions.

Updated

Given the prime minister keeps referring to how he called the royal commission into aged care (while also disputing the ‘assertions’ the counsel assisting the commission has made) it is also worth remembering that he only called the commission, after months of reporting of how terrible aged care standards were in some homes, which was then knocked out of the park by a Four Corners series on the issue.

It wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart. It was in response to a call that had become too loud to ignore.

Labor has asked aged care minister, Richard Colbeck about Liberal MP Russell Broadbent’s comments in Guardian Australia that aged care is a “disaster waiting to happen” because “profit became more important than care” and that he had warned the government but was “completely ignored”.

Colbeck replied:

Mr Broadbent has a perspective on how he believes the aged sector should be structured. I respect his perspective. From the late 90s there were changes in the sector, and the opportunity for different forms of providers to come in. I respect his perspective. But governments since the late 90s have continued on a path where a range of provider types: government providers through states, community based, for profit and not-for-profit providers. We wanted a forensic inspection of the entire aged care sector, which is why the prime minister called a royal commission. We look forward to recommendations including about the structure of the sector.

“I don’t concede the government has ignored or dismissed Broadbent’s concerns,” Colbeck added, citing the ability of any Australian to make a submission to the royal commission – an opportunity senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has taken up to raise concerns.

In the final supplementary, Labor asked how many more aged care residents might still be alive if Colbeck’s warnings were heeded.

Colbeck replied:

I think it’s really unfortunate that Labor seeks to make the correlation it does between the circumstance of Covid-19 and other discussions that are being undertaken. It’s very, very unfortunate seek to make those correlations. I take very seriously the views that Mr Broadbent has made, I believe the government is taking them into account by conducting a royal commission. Every single one of the deaths [in aged care] is an absolute tragedy, I don’t make the correlations [Labor] do for political purposes.

Updated

Vince Connelly’s latest dixer performance appears to channel ‘baby discovers it has hands, and is transfixed’.

Two stars.

Greg Hunt is laying out how the aged care budget is increasing year on year.

Which it is.

Because more of the population is getting older.

Peter Dutton is apparently filling out birthday cards for constituents while sitting in question time.

Happy Virgo season.

Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton during question time
Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton during question time Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Two-year-old girl released from immigration detention in Melbourne

Back to Victoria for a moment:

A two-year-old child who has spent her entire life in immigration detention in Melbourne has been released with her mother.

Isabella Lee Pin Loong had lived at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre since her birth. Her mother, Vietnamese woman Huyen Thu Thi Tran, sought asylum in Australia by boat in 2011 and has been detained for almost three years.

Isabella’s father and Huyen’s husband, Paul Lee, lives in the community.

Isabella and Tran left the detention centre on Wednesday afternoon after Tran was issued a bridging visa.

Tran’s lawyer Alison Battisson described the release as “absolutely extraordinary” and “an incredible event to happen”.

The family can actually start their lives together as a family. Isabella’s never lived with her father and Huyen’s never really had the support of a partner [in raising her].

Isabella can finally interact with friends and just have some normal run-of-the-mill childhood experiences.

The only other children in detention are Kopika and Tharunicaa, part of the so-called ‘Biloela family’. Before they were taken to Christmas Island, the Tamil family was also held in the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation.

“There is still a family detained on Christmas Island with two young girls who used to play with Isabella, so one playmate is out but two remain,” Battisson said.

There are still many people in detention separated from their families, including their children. They should all have the same chance as Isabella now has to have a proper family life.

Tran’s bridging visa does not entitle her to stay in Australia permanently, but it does mean that she can live in the community for now. She had previously been assessed by the government as not engaging Australia’s protection obligations, and was not able to challenge the decision in a court.

The government had indicated its intention to deport her as recently as April, Battisson said.

Isabella has not seen her father in person since March, when immigration detention visits were halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s going to be very overwhelming for Isabella in the beginning because she’s never had proper interaction with the greater community,” Battisson said.

But, she said, “the difference for this young girl’s life is actually life-changing.”

Updated

So what else does the RMIT ABC fact check say on the aged care funding debate?

The increase came despite a decision to pare $1.2 billion of “efficiencies” over four years, largely by reducing the subsidies paid to aged care providers to tackle potential over-claiming and an unexpected cost blowout.

The overall level of Commonwealth funding provided for aged care has increased on an annual basis for at least the past decade.

As experts noted, this result is hardly surprising, with Australia’s ageing population leading to growing numbers of aged care recipients, increased care requirements, and higher care costs.

Analysis by RMIT ABC Fact Check shows funding has increased across a range of measures: in nominal dollar amounts, in real terms (after adjusting for inflation), as a proportion of total expenses, and as a dollar amount per aged care resident per day.

As some experts contacted by Fact Check suggested, rather than representing a cut, the decision to carve out $1.2 billion of “efficiencies” could rather be characterised as an attempt to better target aged care funding, with spending continuing to rise in real terms.

So what does that mean? Overall it has increased. But money has been taken from some areas to fund others.

Julie Owens to Scott Morrison:

The productivity commission revealed older Australians with high-care needs in New South Wales are waiting almost three years for a Home Care Package. Did the prime minister’s decision to cut $1.7bn from aged care leave these older Australians better, or worse off?

Morrison:

I’ve already addressed the misleading statement that has been made by those opposite regarding funding, Mr Speaker.

(INTERJECTIONS)

What the ABC Fact Check actually demonstrated, Mr Speaker, on issues relating to where there was integrity matters within the Aged Care sector of overpayments, despite that, Mr Speaker – and those measures that the government introduced – the funding for aged care was increased by $1bn, Mr Speaker.

And has continued to be increased by $1bn – in fact, more than that – every single year. And one of the most significant areas, Mr Speaker, where we’ve continued to increase funding, has been in the area of in-home aged care places, Mr Speaker.

And as I said before, in-home aged care places, under our government, has risen from around 60,000 when we came to government to over 150,000 now, Mr Speaker, and we’re going to keep increasing those places as we go forward, as we did immediately after we received the interim report of the royal commission immediately putting a further 10,000 places into the in-home aged care network.

Mr Speaker, we will keep increasing our funding in aged care, in residential aged care and in in-home aged care. I would invite those opposite to support those increases and the reforms that I believe will be necessary when it comes to aged care in the future just as, when we were in opposition, supported the Labor party as the shadow minister for emissions reduction will recall, when he worked with opposition members at that time to introduce important changes in aged care, I would hope that, when we deal with the royal commission into aged care, we might be able to deal with it in a similarly cooperative fashion, and that aged care not be used for political purposes.

Updated

The Coalition has been in power for 14 of the last 20 years.

Julie Collins to Scott Morrison:

The aged care royal commission’s interim report titled ‘Neglect’ drew attention to aged care residents sitting or lying in urine or faeces. Did the prime minister’s decision to cut $1.7bn from aged care contribute to these shocking circumstances?

Morrison:

Mr Speaker, I’ve already addressed the misleading statements made by the opposition that they continue to assert, and I’ve already informed the House of the significant increases in investments that have been made by the government when it comes to aged care. Mr Speaker, when I called the royal commission into aged care...

(interjections)

..when I undertook that soon after becoming prime minister, Mr Speaker, I said to the Australian people that we would have to brace ourselves for some very hard information about how older Australians were faring when it came to aged care facilities in this country.

And what we pointed out at the time – and what has been widely accepted, Mr Speaker – is that these challenges are ones that governments – our own, those that came before us – have been wrestling with for many, many years over many decades.

The things that the royal commission are looking at are not just issues and failings that have occurred in more recent times, but over the last 20 years.

And what we have seen, as the aged care demands have increased on the system, they have increased not just in number, but in the nature of the care that has become necessary.

And for those of us who have had to make decisions about putting our own family, our own parents, into aged care, we have known that, when we’ve done that, we are putting them into pre-palliative care.

And we know it won’t be long, Mr Speaker – it won’t be long, in many cases, Mr Speaker.

And it was certainly the case in my own experience, in the decision that my family had to make, that my brother and I and my mother had to make, when my father went into residential aged care. So I don’t accept the interjections from those opposite, and I would ask them to show some respect..on this very personal, sensitive issue. Mr Speaker, when we make those decisions, we know – and the aged care sector knows – that they are having to deliver on a much higher level of acute care today than was the case 10 years ago or 20 years ago.

And that means the demands are greater. And that means the actions need to be greater. And that’s why, Mr Speaker, our government has continued to increase funding in aged care every year by, Mr Speaker, more than $1bn every year.

And we will continue to do that, and we will do more, and you will see more in the budget, and you will see more in next year’s budget, just as people have seen in every statement now going back several years – increased places made available, particularly in in-home aged care.

It is a challenging area, Mr Speaker, and we must show respect and dignity for people who are living in residential aged care facilities, or wherever they’re receiving our care. And that is our commitment to the Australian people.

Updated

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

The aged care royal commission’s interim report titled ‘Neglect’ revealed up to half of all older Australians in residential aged care are malnourished. They’re literally starving. Didn’t the Prime Minister’s decision to cut $1.7bn from aged care leave frail and vulnerable older Australians worse off?

Morrison:

The care and respect for Australians who are living in residential aged care is something that all members of my government – and I know that all members of this House – take very, very seriously.

Very, very seriously, Mr Speaker.

We have all had personal experiences, no doubt, of our own loved ones being cared for in residential aged care facilities, and we know how important it is. Mr Speaker, that is why our government has continued to increase funding for aged care.

When we came to office after the 2012-13 budget, in terms of aged care places and funding, that was at 186,278 residential aged care places. In the most recent budget, that has increased to 219,000 places, Mr Speaker.

On in-home aged care places, we inherited just 60,000 places from those opposite and, in the 2019-20 budget, we have increased that to 150,756 places. In response to the royal commission into aged care, Mr Speaker – which I initiated not long after becoming prime minister – there was an interim report that was released, and it touched on three particular issues.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Wednesday, 26 August 2020.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Wednesday, 26 August 2020. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

And we, Mr Speaker, responded to each and every one of those three issues highlighted in that interim report. With 10,000 Home Care Packages established at a cost of $496.3m – $25.5m to reduce the use of medication as a chemical restraint on aged care residents and at home. There was $10m for additional dementia training and support for aged care workers and providers, including to reduce their use of chemical restraints.

And $4.7m to help meet new targets to remove younger people with disabilities from residential aged care. Mr Speaker, these were the matters that were highlighted in that interim report, and we moved very quickly to provide the funding to support that soon after that interim report came down.

When its final recommendations are made next year, Mr Speaker, we will have the opportunity to respond in full to those in the budget of next year. In the meantime, in the budget of this year, we will continue to address the many challenges there are in aged care – not only the more than $1bn that we’ve already put in to support our efforts to respond to Covid-19, but the other many issues that we continue to be aware of and have been acting on.

In my earlier question, I ran through a series of funding commitments. Those funding commitments I outlined into the leader of the opposition’s first question are only those that we’ve announced, Mr Speaker, since the royal commission was established. So we’ll continue to look after our older residents, and we’ll do it in a way that ensures their dignity and their respect.

Updated

In what might be the most cursed moment of this day, Barnaby Joyce invokes Michael McCormack to the despatch box.

Joyce is EXUBERANT in his presentation of the question.

McCormack is doomed.

Jim Chalmers to Scott Morrison:

Does the prime minister seriously deny he cut $1.7bn from aged care when page 172 of his 2015-16 MYEFO says about aged care funding, “The government will achieve savings of $472.4m” and page 101 of his budget paper No. 2 for 2016-17 says about aged care funding, “The government will achieve efficiencies of $1.2 bn”?

Morrison:

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The government increases funding for aged care by $1bn every single year.

Updated

This went out ahead of question time:

Updated

Back to Victoria for a moment:

Racial vilification complaints to Victoria’s human rights watchdog have doubled during the pandemic, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

Kristen Hilton, Victoria’s human rights commissioner, told a Covid-19 inquiry there has been a “doubling” of reports over the past four months.

She said the abuse was “often directed to people of Asian appearance”.

Many of the incidents were on public transport and at shopping centres, but others included people being racially abused by their neighbour.

Some people reported racist graffiti in their neighbourhoods that was also “directed to people of Asian appearance”.

In one case, a Melbourne doctor told the commission he was no longer able to travel to work by public transport after he was abused on a train.

“When there is fear and anxiety that will often lead to an increase in racism,” Hilton said.

Updated

Question time begins

Anthony Albanese is straight into it:

Did the prime minister’s decision to cut $1.7bn from aged care leave aged care homes better or worse prepared for the pandemic?

Morrison:

Once again, the leader of the opposition comes to the dispatch box and asserts things that are just simply not true.

Mr Speaker, it’s not just me saying that. The Labor party have made these allegations before. In fact, it was the previous leader of the opposition who made the same allegations about a matter involving $1.2bn, Mr Speaker. And of all sources to actually agree the government – it may come as some surprise – but ABC Fact Check found that to be very misleading, Mr Speaker I table that for the benefit of the House, Mr Speaker.

From that fact check:

In Mr Morrison’s first year as federal treasurer – that is, 2016-17 – total commonwealth funding for aged care (excluding the pension and other forms of income support for seniors, but including a range of other programs) was $17.4bn.

That represented an increase of more than $1bn over the previous year.

Did Scott Morrison cut funding from the aged care budget?

The increase came despite a decision to pare $1.2bn of “efficiencies” over four years, largely by reducing the subsidies paid to aged care providers to tackle potential over-claiming and an unexpected cost blowout.

Morrison lists the government’s spending and finishes with:

Australia’s record stands, Mr Speaker, in a position that other nations have not even approached.

That’s not to say, Mr Speaker, there have not been failings. Of course there have. There have been four cases in four facilities in this country where the outcomes have been completely and totally unacceptable, Mr Speaker, in those four cases. Mr Speaker, there have been a total of 16 cases overall where we’ve had a significant impact. But in 97% of the aged care facilities in this country, Mr Speaker, there has not been a single resident infection.

There have been more than 330 deaths in aged care homes in Australia since the pandemic.

Updated

And it is done.

Updated

Doug Cameron rarely undersells these things.

It’s the Lithuanian in him.

We are now in the downhill run to question time.

Labor will be focussed on aged care.

This is quite something.

Wang Xining:

I know some people do not like some of the ideas from China. And Chinese people.

Even if it’s mainstream thinking of my people and Chinese expats around the world, particularly those on the political and social structure. It’s our people’s choice.

But I think it can be faithfully and candidly presented to the Australian public.

It won’t affect Australians’ own choice of your political and social structure.

I don’t see any reason for whining about your constitutional fragility and your intellectual vulnerability.

We’ll promote this exchange, understanding China better, will not undermine Australia’s future.

Updated

The ABS construction data is out.

Value of work done, chain volume measures

Total construction

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done fell 0.7% to $50,128.8m in the June quarter.

Building work done

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done fell 3.9% to $28,416.7m in the June quarter.

Engineering work done

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for engineering work done rose 3.8% to $21,712.1m in the June quarter.

Labor’s Jason Clare has responded (complete with receipts):

Today the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest construction activity data from the June quarter showing residential construction work done fell for the eighth consecutive quarter and is down 12.1 per cent over the year.

Today’s collapse in construction follows industry warnings of a “bloodbath” in the sector.

When it comes to construction, Scott Morrison is all slogan, no delivery.

If only the Minister for Housing Michael Sukkar spent as much time helping tradies stack bricks as he has stacking branches.

The really bad news is that the worst is yet to come.

In the last fortnight, Treasury and the housing industry have forecast that housing construction will plummet by as much as 27 per cent.

...Labor has repeatedly called on the Morrison Government to put together a comprehensive housing stimulus plan including building more social housing, and we’re not the only ones.

Updated

There is a lot of ground being covered here.

The answer to this question about the CCP’s views on democracy is essentially, what has democracy done for you lately.

Wang Xining:

Our policy is we never interfere in others internal affairs. We are not imposing anything on other countries.

We are not trying to turn Australia into the People’s Republic of China...we are not trying to replace your system with a presidential system. We’re not asking Hungary Jacks to sell Chinese dumplings.

You have your way to do things and let me say, sorry to keep you standing but I would like to say a few words about democracy because we don’t believe democracy is a synchronic term. It must be a diacritical term because there has never been a single format of diplomacy all around the world and all along the history and all across the world.

Given my humble knowledge, I understand Plato in his time put aristocracy, democracy ahead of democracy.

...I don’t believe the state of democracy whether seen before and after this country abandoned the white Australia policy. It is totally different. We need to take into consideration all the interests and components of diplomacy as well as elements.

I’m not in favour of replacing Western democracy with other type of democracy by saying mine is democracy and yours is not.

I think it is a very narrow interpretation and it will democracy is a word and empty political slogan and a very outworn political cliche.

Even for me, it is even sacrilegious for such a lofty idea of mankind.

Secondly, I think democracy is not the end, it is the means. The end is the people. We need to ask the people whether you are satisfied with the performance of the system of a government that decides whether this democracy works.

...Look at how Chinese people live. Seven or eight months into this outbreak of Covid-19, our economy is picking up new momentum.

The second quarter, the growth rate was 3.2%. Our trade registered positive growth in June and we have fabulous PMI and CPI numbers and also the schools are open, the bars are open and also the gyms are open so people are coming back to a normal life and they are able to join in a large crowd for a beer festival and a music festival without worrying about being infected again and if you look at some other countries claiming to be the lantern of democracy, the people suffer, people die and people are losing jobs.

So that is why we see if a democracy fails to deliver to the people a qualified life and hope of future and sense of security, even if it is not a faked or failed democracy, it is not a democracy, it is underpar. That is my interpretation of democracy, thank you very much for your patience.

Updated

Soft diplomacy.

(This would have been a whole episode of the West Wing, by the way, which is why the West Wing is also the worst.)

The menu
The menu Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
The deputy head of mission/minister of the peoples Republic of China in Australia Wang Xining at the National Press Club in Canberra where he was served a meal of Australian Beef on Australian Barley and offered Australian wines.
The deputy head of mission/minister of the peoples Republic of China in Australia Wang Xining at the National Press Club in Canberra where he was served a meal of Australian Beef on Australian Barley and offered Australian wines. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Q:

Just to clarify something you said earlier. Did the coronavirus, which is currently affecting the world, did it come from China, if it did, you talked about two or three other places, where could it have come from if not China?

You talked about the feelings of the Chinese people, given their health has been affected and the economy trashed, do you understand that Australia’s feelings might be heard, and the rest of the world, and they have the right to know where it comes from.

Wang Xining:

Yes, I think it is up to the scientists to find out the origin, and also how it has been dealt with by different governments.

I would like to call your attention to what has been said by Mr Michael Ryan. He is the Executive Director of WHO, health emergency program, he said recently that patient zero is not necessarily found among the first cluster of coronavirus cases.

What I mean is, this time, this virus was first identified in China, and first reported in China. And we did what we could to provide to WHO and other governments what we have. In order to prevent further damage to other countries.

But, you know, we are a country famous for strict discipline. So we managed to control the virus, if you calculate from the [beginning] of the year to April 8 when the lockdown of Wuhan was current, that signifies that the economy in China was basically under control.

Roughly 100 days. It takes 100 days for another major country, for the cases to rise from zero to a million.

So it is not the problem of the medical capacity of humankind. We are entirely able to do that. The problem is the way we treat this virus. And the efficiency of good governance and medical deployment.

Q: To be clear, you are saying that it didn’t originate in Wuhan?

Wang: We should leave the work to scientists.

On the CCP’s rejection of Australia’s original calls for an independent review into the origins of the pandemic, and the first response, Wang Xining says:

It is very clear that the Chinese government and the Chinese people is opposed to that proposal about that international review, to understand this, you need to take this issue back to the context of late April.

Firstly, we believe this proposal was targeted against China alone.

During that time Australian ministers claimed that the virus originated from Wuhan province, they did not point to any other places as a source.

We were singled out, we don’t think it is fair.

We believe the most authoritative and Institute is WHO, and it was criticised by Australian politicians.

And there was blame on China for their failure to control the spread of the disease, and the sharp rise in cases, and try to shirk responsibility. The proposal came at a time when the US was trying to do that, so the proposal would help Washington to put more pressure on China.

Firstly, the Australian government never consulted the Chinese government in whatever way before the proposal came out. We don’t think it conforms to the spirit of comprehensive, strategic partnership. It lacks the least courtesy and diplomacy. But everybody needs to know the reason of this COVID-19.

Chinese people also want to know, but the purpose to know the reason is not put blame on a place of people or authority when they were first identified, the purpose is to get people better prepared for a future medical outbreak, so that is why China supports wholeheartedly the WHO operation.

Wang Xining:

At the early stage of this pandemic, people of Australia extended supporting hands and messages to the Chinese people.

Friends in government departments, business, social organisations, helped China in sourcing protective equipment from international and foreign suppliers. When people were fleeing from China, there was still ... a determination to fly medical equipment into China.

And reinforce the radio broadcasting with his Chinese colleague.

They became heroes in Chinese social media. Later when there was an outbreak in Australia, Chinese health administration, PPE suppliers, and medical companies all rush to help.

Despite sporadic reporting that distorted facts and discredited philanthropy, such as the so-called PPE holding by Chinese companies, most of our people demonstrated goodwill and exchanged warmth, sympathy, compassion, solidarity and friendship as fellow human beings in face of that killer virus.

The deputy head of mission of the People’s Republic of China in Australia Wang Xining at the National Press Club in Canberra.
The deputy head of mission of the People’s Republic of China in Australia Wang Xining at the National Press Club in Canberra. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The third word is fairness. It is a social principle are traders ethic, and a market role. The trade growing between China and Australia could not have been achieved without fairness in place.

A fair, open, non-discriminant policy, and regulatory environment that offers strongest market predictability, financial stability and legal reliability does enormous good to our business.

There is no reason for our governments to revile from building such a complementary environment, a structure between China and Australia, giving our business natural impetus for trade and investment.

China, after decades of market oriented economic reform has built a strong and competitive manufacturing capacity which covers all major industrial categories. Australia, as an OECD member, has achieved a business efficiency and sector profitability to top the world’ list.

The two economies fit each other. We could serve a classic case of comparative advantages.

Updated

He continues:

The second word is goodwill.

We may disagree on some issues, and even disagree on how disagreements should be presented.

But our partnership will not be wrecked by differences or disagreements as long as we reach each other well and approach all the issues with goodwill.

Our differences may appear stark, but our commonalities at a human level far outweigh the discrepancy in structure. We both value life and family, we both cherish peace and stability.

We both embrace equality, freedom, we both uphold justice and rule of law.

Most importantly we both wish the other to live as aspired by choosing a methodology that we find fit and proper for ourselves. That is what we call goodwill.

When we the people with goodwill are confronted with a different methodology, we do not panic, because we know that deep in our hearts, people hold dear the same value.

The methodology will work only in good conditions and survive only with success. We the people do not wish other’s evil, only because they have different understandings or interpretation of worldly methods or affairs.

China is full of goodwill. China always wishes Australia peace and prosperity. We don’t contest Australia over its domestic policy or safeguarding national interest and promoting Australian ‘s well-being.

We don’t see Australia as a strategic threat. There is no fundamental conflict of interest or historical irritants to be healed.

Again, this does not seem to be a message to anyone in the room.

Rather, it’s a message to those in this building watching this on screens. In the ministerial wing, would be my guess. But I’m no expert on these things.

Wang Xining:

We all know that China and Australia are different in many aspects. Length of history, roots of culture, size of population, future of economy, level of development, form of government, type of law system.

Respect will anchor our relationship in the torrent of differences. The benchmark of respect between countries, in my understanding, is to follow the basic norms governing temporary international relationships.

We should respect sovereignty and integrity, and refrain from interfering in others affairs. Respect others choice of social and political system and mode of development, and refrain from imposing 1’s own idea onto the other.

We should respect each other’s legal system and rule of law, and refrain from interrupting the other’s legal proceedings and undertakings. China respects Australia sovereignty.

As China sovereignty was constantly under threat and disarray from external powers, the last thing China wants to do is to inflict on others what China suffered. Or to bully others as we were bullied.

We do not deal in the result of such conduct. We reject it and will never engage in it. China does not interfere in Australia’s internal affairs.

Nor do we have any intention of changing Australia’s political or social culture. The ... Chinese government respects the following of social conventions and contributing to local communities.

Naturally China expects reciprocity in terms of respect. Which I believe should arise from better mutual understanding through conscientious academic study and social exchange based on genuine facts and objective analysis. Free from sway of political force or vested interest.

'Respect, goodwill, fairness and vision' – principles to help Beijing-Canberra relationship

Wang Xining mentions the elephant in the room – the rift:

This partnership is no mirage on the sea.

After centuries of interaction and association between our peoples, it is the result of decades of trust between our leaderships.

But it is no easy task to keep a partnership in good shape. It takes concerted determination and joint effort to make it thrive. A married couple knows this. While a rift between husband and wife hurts one family, a rift between two countries hurts millions.

I wish to propose for keywords as principles that may help to maintain and promote a relationship. Respect, goodwill, fairness, and vision.

The deputy head of mission of the People’s Republic of China in Australia Wang Xining at the National Press Club in Canberra.
The deputy head of mission of the People’s Republic of China in Australia Wang Xining at the National Press Club in Canberra. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

ABC Q&A host Hamish Macdonald gets a shout out at the beginning of Wang Xining’s speech – for encouraging him to appear on Australian TV more, following an appearance on Q&A:

He encouraged me to be on the TV again to share more Chinese views and perspectives. I am more at ease today, because Hamish is not the host.

Updated

This press club address may be the closest Australian ministers have been to hearing from the CCP since none of them seem to be able to get their counterpart ministers on the phone.

The national press club address with the deputy head of mission at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Australia is about to begin.

As you can see, diplomacy is very, very subtle.

The Covid response is normalising all sorts of things.

Updated

And just repeating – there has been six new cases of Covid recorded in the last 24 hours in NSW – and authorities don’t have a source point as yet, for five of them.

Updated

There are 15 hotels in Sydney being used for hotel quarantine, with more than 4,000 returned travellers being held inside.

As Naaman just reported, the Travelodge Wentworth hotel is no longer one of them.

Mick Fuller:

As you are aware, the Travelodge is no longer being used in the hotel operation. That was closed last night and all those returning passengers that were in the Travelodge had been moved to another hotel. That was after a couple of days where we received complaints in terms of a number of issues and we acted on those complaints.

Updated

NSW police requested private security guards for NSW hotel quarantine

The New South Wales police commissioner, Mick Fuller, has said police themselves requested private security guards should be used as “second-tier” security in hotel quarantine.

Fuller defended the practice on Wednesday, after nearly 400 people were moved from the Travelodge Wentworth hotel on Tuesday night after police determined the hotel failed to meet the quarantine program’s standards.

Two security guards at the Sydney Harbour Marriott have so far tested positive for Covid-19, with genomic testing showing it was initially contracted from a returned traveller from the US.

Fuller said he still had confidence in the hotel quarantine system and would “audit and find security guards who aren’t up to scratch”.

83,000 shifts of security guards and two positive tests.

[But] I get the significance of this, as I know other states, territories and countries have been let down by quarantine. If I felt the security guard aspect was failing, I would put police in there.

Fuller also told reporters that “Every hotel has had a complaint at some stage”, and the volume of complaints rose last week.

Certainly last week the volume of complaints was unusual, there was an escalation to a point that the commander made a determination [to move travellers from the Travelodge].

Updated

Many of those comments were from answers to dixers – questions written by the government, with prepared answers.

So those answers, in most of those cases, were prepared.

Updated

And a bit more:

Peter Dutton:

Obviously, the Home Affairs portfolio and the department play a very key part in facilitating trade into and out of Australia and in supporting the states and territories through the pandemic, particularly at the moment with what has happened in Victoria, with the problems around hotel quarantining and the failings or otherwise in Victoria. We have been able to step up with the [national coordination mechanism].

Scott Morrison (again):

It is true that part of that national strategy employed by all states and territories have failed in Victoria. That is true.

The testing, tracing and quarantine arrangements have proven to be unacceptable and have led to what we have seen with community outbreak in Victoria.

And that has resulted in the heaviest restrictions we have ever seen. We want to see those restrictions come off and we’re doing everything we can to help Victoria right the situation and stabilise the situation so it can be opened up again.

Scott Morrison (and again):

Over these many months the minister for aged care has been responsible for the outcomes that I referred to earlier, which have seen Australia be in a position where 97 per cent of facilities in this country, despite the significant community outbreak in Victoria, which the Leader of the Opposition has a blind spot on—the Leader of the Opposition believes that in Victoria there’s nothing going on when it comes to community transmission, that there has been no failure of quarantine, that there has been no failure of tracing.

The Leader of the Opposition seems to think that everything is okay in Victoria, and that there have only been challenges in aged care. The Leader of the Opposition has a blind spot on Victoria.

What we are doing is addressing the challenges that have resulted from the outbreak in community transmission in Victoria

It continued:

Scott Morrison:

This has been a terrible outbreak of the virus in Victoria. We cannot ignore that fact in this place. We cannot pretend that these events would have occurred without the community outbreak that occurred in Melbourne and in Victoria.

That is why, as the minister of health was saying earlier, the way to avoid all of this ultimately is to ensure that we make the outbreak containment measures, the protection around quarantine and the testing and tracing, all of which have been brought into question here.

That has led to the community outbreak in Victoria, and that ultimately ends with terrible [aged care] circumstances like those you’ve described.

Greg Hunt:

Globally now, this pandemic has reached over 23½ million people. Sadly, over 811,000 lives have been lost.

In Australia now, 25,053 cases have been formally diagnosed and 525 lives have been lost.

Today there were 151 new cases, one in hotel quarantine.

There were six states and territories with zero; one state, New South Wales, with two cases in the community; and one state with 148. That’s Victoria. That reflects the trend that we have seen since 1 June. On 1 June, there were 7,370 cases in Victoria.

That has grown to over 25,000 cases now, or an increase of 17,683 cases. I say that because 16,811, or 95 per cent of the increase in Australian cases since 1 June, have come from one state, overwhelmingly from one city, and overwhelmingly from one part of one city.

Ninety-nine per cent of lives lost since 1 June have been lost in Victoria.

So this is very much, sadly and tragically, the issue of one city in one state above all else.

...We have seen a 1,000% growth in cases in one state. No other state has had more than 25% growth over the course of the last three months.

But what we have done as a country – when we look around the world at those figures – is we have seen a containment strategy based on borders, with 94,000 people that have been through the hotel quarantine program and 2,269 positive cases that have been detected and prevented, through that hotel quarantine program, from escaping into the community.

In seven out of eight states and territories, it has worked remarkably well. We know the tragic consequences in one.

Updated

Just as a reminder, here is some of the comments from question time yesterday.

Michael McCormack:

When there are issues in Melbourne, local communities around Mildura or Bairnsdale shouldn’t have to cop the consequences. Swan Hill is not Swanston Street. When there is a spike in Brisbane, is it fair for businesses in Blackwater or Biloela to face restrictions to their trade? I would argue that it is not.

Imposing stage 4 lockdown in a hotspot such as Melbourne is imperative to the containment of the virus.

No one disputes that; we all know that.

However, imposing stage 3 restrictions on a blanket basis is, I would argue, unjustifiable. I think we can all agree that you do not fix a health issue in Melbourne by creating an economic downturn in Mildura. Due to stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne, where daily Covid-19 cases reached as high as 730 – and that is very, very sad, and we acknowledge that – all of regional Victoria was placed on stage 3 restrictions. These non-targeted restrictions are crippling country communities and regional small businesses, particularly in hospitality and tourism.

Many rural communities have not had a Covid case in months – many not at all – yet every business in regional Victoria is hurting because of the cluster based outbreaks of the virus. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t stack up. One city, one state, but affecting all of the nation, particularly hurting regional Victoria and regional Australia in general.

Josh Frydenberg:

More than 6½ million Victorians are doing it very tough.

‘There are Victorians right now who are subject to curfews. There are Victorians who have seen businesses close. There are Victorians who have seen schools close. People can’t go to work in Victoria. In Victoria, parents and grandparents are finding it very tough, and kids are not seeing their friends.

This is the heavy price being paid by Victorians for the second wave of Covid-19.

And there’s a huge economic cost as well. It’s treasury’s forecast that up to 400,000 Victorians will either lose their jobs or see their hours reduced to zero. That’s the equivalent of four MCGs full of people on grand final day.

That is 400,000 Victorians who are effectively unemployed as a result of this second wave.

... Victorians look at New South Wales and ask, ‘Why not us?’ They look at New South Wales with a lower number of cases and a lower number of deaths and they look at the fact that in New South Wales there have been 315,000 jobs created in recent months. I understand why Victorians are now very concerned by the Victorian government announcing yesterday that it wants to extend the emergency powers for another 12 months. I share those concerns.

The Victorian government has to explain its decision. The Victorian government and the Australian government, under Scott Morrison, will work together to support Victorians. At the end of the day, we will do everything to support Victorians to get to the other side of this crisis, but the Victorian government has a lot of questions to answer.

Updated

Morrison denies taking pot shots at Victoria's Covid response

Scott Morrison is also claiming that he, and his ministers, did not take pot shots at the Victorian government response yesterday, during question time.

Q: Prime Minister, yesterday you pointed to failures in Victoria on contact tracing, testing and quarantine, who is accountable for those failures? Is it the premier?

Morrison:

Well, all I was basically yesterday was the leader of the opposition seemed to have a blind spot on what had occurred in Victoria. And I mean, I don’t think those issues are in great dispute. There has been significant failures there in the areas that you’ve highlighted. And that has of course contributed significantly, overwhelmingly, almost entirely I’d have to say to the community outbreak that we’ve seen. I said earlier this week in the House, that this virus probes for weaknesses. And where those weaknesses are found then it results in what we’ve seen in Victoria. Now, I have no doubt that the Victorian government feels as strongly about this as I do, in terms of the impact it has had on the people of Victoria. They are now subject to these most horrendous restrictions that are regrettably necessary, as I said at the time. But where- we can’t ignore what has occurred in Victoria of course it’s happened. I’m not seeking to get into any blame game here at all. I mean, I work constructively with the Victorian Premier, but where there are issues that need to be raised then I’ll of course raise them with him and I’ve done so consistently and that’s done in the spirit of the partnership that is necessary to work through a crisis. You don’t agree on everything, but you certainly discuss everything.

Q: But won’t there be consequences prime minister where both you and the treasurer take shots at the Victorian government and its premier on the floor of the parliament. The cohesion of national cabinet comes to the fore, doesn’t it? Under that pressure?

Morrison:

No I think that analysis is exaggerated. I mean all I simply did yesterday was draw attention to some basic facts that I think are well understood. I think for all Australians and particularly all Victorians, I wasn’t seeking to direct any blame anywhere. I was just basically calling out what was the simple facts. I mean, we can’t ignore the fact of what’s happened in Victoria, and I don’t believe the Victorian premier is ignoring it either. That’s why we’re working together to deal with the consequences of what has occurred in Victoria. I do find it strange, though, that Anthony Albanese has a complete blind spot. He must be the only person who doesn’t understand what’s happened in Victoria. I can assure you, Victorians do. I’m not a Victorian and I can work that out. And he’s not one either but he needs to do a bit more work to understand what’s been going on down there, because he doesn’t seem to know and I feel terribly for what Victorians are going through.

And the masked prime minister is...
And the masked prime minister is... Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

The joint standing committee on electoral matters has released its report on the miscellaneous measures bill - which prompted fury among the Senate crossbench and from Queensland Labor over concerns it will water down state donation laws.

JSCEM is controlled by the Coalition, with Liberal James McGrathin the chair, so it’s unsurprising the majority report calls for the bill to be passed.

The Greens have dissented, warning that money can easily flow between state and federal purposes within a party branch, practically defeating state donation bans on developers. They called for separate bank accounts for federal and state purposes and to repeal the bill’s sections that would provide immunity from penalties for prohibited donors who give to a state branch for a federal purpose.

Labor’s report is very nuanced - it is presented as a “dissenting report” but recommends the bill be passed if a few amendments are made:

  • Postponing the commencement until after the Queensland election; and
  • Requiring parties to maintain separate bank accounts.

The Labor members said:

Labor recognises the concerns raised by many submissions to this Inquiry in relation to the proposed amendments to sections 302CA and 314B [the immunity provisions]. However, the commonwealth parliament should be able to make laws with respect to commonwealth elections – without the threat of those laws being overridden by the states.”

So federal Labor accepts that only commonwealth law should apply to donations for federal purposes, but Queensland Labor disagrees and thinks the state laws banning developer donations in the state for all purposes should apply.

I think that means the bill is very likely to pass – but I’ll contact the government to see what they think of Labor amendments.

Updated

Victoria has issued nearly 20,000 fines for coronavirus breaches

Victoria police has dished out nearly 20,000 fines for Covid-19 breaches during the pandemic, an inquiry has been told.

Lisa Neville, the police minister, told the Covid-19 inquiry on Wednesday police had issued 19,324 fines, including 1,669 for failing to wear a mask and 2,145 to those breaching the state curfew.

There were 5,761 fines for “non-compliance of directions” and 20 fines were issued for people failing to self-isolate.

Updated

Daniel Andrews is asked about these comments from Scott Morrison:

I know that the announcement that was made by the premier the other day about that extension of the additional 12 months, I’ve raised our concerns with the premier about that.

I did that directly. I know others have, I know other Labor figures have. And I think it’s important to dispel any uncertainty and get clarity around that issue. I think people are concerned that lockdowns would extend for another 12 months.

Now, we’ve received many calls through offices right across Victoria, including in my office as well.

There was great concern that that would occur. Now, of course, I don’t think that’s what the premier was suggesting at all. But in these times, we’ve got to be very careful about the announcements that are made. And I welcome the fact that he was clarifying that yesterday.

Andrews:

We talk often, send messages often. As he said, we don’t necessarily agree on every matter. We’re working closely together. He doesn’t have to deal with these sorts of issues. There are a whole lot of things that are on his plate I don’t have to deal with. Public health is here [Victoria’s responsibility].

I’m confident with the dialogue we have with the crossbench we can make amendments to the Act next week.

That will mean we can keep people safe. This is the key point. Open up. That’s what the amendments are about. The amendments are about a framework and certainty in the weeks and months ahead to open Victoria up again and to create jobs and prosperity and repair the damage that this pandemic has done to all of us. That’s what these amendments are all about. I’m confident that we will get a good outcome that serves both of those purposes.

Updated

Daniel Andrews is asked whether or not he would have supported legislation like this when he was opposition leader (which was six years ago).

We are not in six years ago. This is a 1 in 100 year event. Six years ago seems a long time ago. Six days ago seems a long time ago. These are unprecedented times. We understand – we fully understand – we have had to make decisions that have been very painful, that have caused great harm.

But at the same time, to let this thing run wild – I want to make a point I have not made for quite some time because it wasn’t relevant.

There are some in the community who don’t think this is real.

There are some who think, “Let it rip. I’m fit. Young and healthy.”

The problem with your hospital system being overrun is it isn’t just overrun and struggling to provide care and support to Covid-19 patients, every stroke, motor vehicle accident, heart attack, every cancer surgery, every thing we need that is time-critical gets overrun.

We need to remember – we need to remember – that whilst we have had to make many decisions that are a very painful, the alternative we see in other parts of the world how tragic it is.

That isn’t in any way – any way to take attention away from the great hardship in the Victorian community.

We will do the work to repair that damage. We will all work very hard to do that. But the alternative is not something that any of us could ever settle for. It isn’t hundreds of death, it is many, many of thousands.

It isn’t just Covid-19. It debilitates and undermines your healthcare system for everyone who needs it. On any given day, there are hundreds of people who need that sort of care. Care they wouldn’t be able to get if we were to listen to some of the conspiracy theories, and if we were to listen to some people who are out there almost inviting people to not follow rules. That’s in no one’s interests.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews addresses the media on Wednesday.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews addresses the media on Wednesday. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Who wants the legislation to extend the state of emergency declaration in Victoria?

Daniel Andrews:

The proposed are supported by the public health team, supported by experts, and when you think about it, that isn’t a surprising thing.

This is not the notion that there will be rules in 12 months. It’s simply the ability to make rules.

The legal authority to make rules, based on advice, based on a proportional response to whatever the challenge is.

We can’t have a situation where we go from stage 4 to stage 1 or stage 0, you know, basically we all want it to be over so let’s just pretend that it is. We can’t do that.

The other thing too, I just say if you want to try – perhaps this is the best way to make the point.

If you want to say to business, ‘Here’s a six-month or a 12-month plan to rebuild, to open up, to recover, to repair the damage that’s been done by this global pandemic, then I need to have some certainty that the plan that I am putting forward has got the legal authority that it needs.

Therefore, some sort of week by week thing or month by month doesn’t really work. Again, I want to stress, though, no rules will be if place for a moment longer than they need to be.

And this is about opening up, about less rules. This is about finding Covid normal. Not stage 4 continuing for a moment longer than it needs to. I know it is frustrating we can’t provide people with absolutely definitive dates.

But that is the nature of this thing. That is the nature of the wildly infectious, wicked enemy we are up against. Without that legal certainty, it – in a practical way, it gets hard to plan. What does stage 3 look like? Following that, what does stage 2 look like? How do we get back to something very close to normal, but will have to be that Covid normal.

Updated

Back to Victoria – is there an idea of what stage three restrictions will look like for Melbourne yet?

Daniel Andrews:

It is a bit early for us to provide a definitive road map or pathway in relation to what stages 3 and 2 will look like.

As soon as we can do that, I want to make it clear to every worker, to every business, to every investor across the state.

These rules won’t be in place a moment longer than they need to be.

We will at the appropriate time, as soon as we can, try and map out as best we can a plan for very significant effort on the part of the government to underpin the considerable efforts of the private sector are making and will certainly make on the other side of this, to make sure we have jobs and skills and we have the strength back into the Victorian economy that we are well-known for, and that is so important, not just for us, but for the entire nation.

I wish I could provide you with a series of absolutely definitive dates and trigger points, if you like. We can’t – that isn’t the nature of this thing. That is one of the most frustrating elements of the fight. We have to keep these numbers coming down, which means we have to keep doing all the things we have been doing following those rules, as challenging as that is. Not letting our fatigue get the better of us and then there will be a time for us to outline a comprehensive plan for investment, for job, for skills, and to make sure that Victoria can be strong again and play a massive part in the economic success of our nation.

Updated

Five new Covid cases in NSW have an unknown source of transmission

NSW has reported six new cases today – one in hotel quarantine and five are locally acquired.

All five have an unknown source of transmission.

Alerts have also been issued for some sites in the Sydney CBD – including the City Tattersalls Fitness Centre on Pitt Street, where two people attended. Anyone there on August 19, 21 or 23 should get tested if any symptoms develop.

Alerts have also been issued for 300 George Street Sydney, on August 19, 20, 21, 24 and the Apple Store and Kmart in Broadway shopping centre on August 22 between 3:30 and 5pm.

One person who contracted Covid-19 is a trainee bus driver who worked for one day while infectious, and had “a limited number of a passengers”. The chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said the risk to passengers was “very low”.

Updated

Cameron Wilson, a reporter with Gizmodo, is one of the reporters who have been keeping an eye on which MPs have been following those ‘social media’ trend treatments.

You will not be surprised to find the names ‘Craig Kelly’ and ‘George Christensen’ pop up there.

Updated

Professor Julian Elliott said Australia has benefitted from not rushing in with unproven treatments:

I think that there’s been a lot of controversy about different elements of treatment in care.

Again, you know, one of the things I think we can be proud of here in Australia and Victoria is that we haven’t jumped on to the latest bandwagon because of a particular trend on social media.

We have taken a very considered approach to that. And so in the end, what that meant is that Victorians and Australians have not been exposed to the potential harms or side effects of treatments that are not got a robust evidence base or not proven.

I think in the any response in any pandemic response, of course, there is always things you can think about that we could do better. But I think just to note that – you know, the care that is being provided for people with Covid-19 in Australia, I think, is absolutely world-class.

.. .I think one of the things to keep in mind is that we do have effective treatments for Covid-19.

I think people would be aware of a lot of controversy around hydroxychloroquine and we make a recommendation that hydroxychloroquine should not be used.

Certainly outside of a research setting. Because there’s now substantial information that it’s not effective, and it does have side effects.

I think that has been a message that many people have heard and are aware of. But they may be less aware that we actually do have some effective treatments.

So, for example, dexamethasone, a widely available, very cheap anti-inflammatory – a drug that reduces your – the inflammation in the body - has been shown in people with more severe disease to reduce mortality by up to a third.

That’s an extraordinary benefit for a drug that we know very well, we have used for many years, it is very widely available and cheap. I hope people are aware.

We have an antiviral called remdesivir, which is again given for people with more severe disease who are in hospital. That has been shown to quicken the time to recovery. It doesn’t reduce mortality, but it enables people to recover more quickly. We know that there is more research coming every week.

We expect more data next week that will be incorporate into our guidelines. Of course, all the subsequent weeks following that.

Updated

Professor Wai-Hong Tham:

What the antibody treatment is designed to do is to actually have antibodies that target the spike protein.

Because the spike protein is what the virus uses to enter cells. And so what the virus does is has a lock and key mechanism between spike protein and human cells. So, if you can actually bind an antibody that blocks spike from doing the interaction with the human cells, you stop virus infection.

And so what we are trying to do is to unmask that scientific evidence that we know very well about the virus now and to actually develop two potent combinations of antibodies that gum up the function of spike, stop it from entering cells in laboratory settings, which we have identified, and by combining two different types of antibodies you can also stop the escape of mutations.

What you’re developing really are antibodies you can deliver to patients, that you know are already going to be safe, that are going to be potent, they’re going to stop virus entry, stop virus infection, and they probably hopefully will work against all the variants that you have in the community.

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Associate Professor Wai-Hong Tham and Monash University Associate Professor Julian Elliott are guests at the Daniel Andrews press conference, speaking about breakthroughs in treatments for Covid.

NSW records six new cases of Covid

NSW has diagnosed six new cases of Covid in the last 24 – just one of those is in hotel quarantine.

Updated

Victoria’s workplace watchdog is investigating a lack of PPE and training provided to private security guards in the state’s bungled hotel quarantine program.

Colin Radford, chief executive of Worksafe, confirmed the probes while fronting the state’s Covid-19 inquiry on Wednesday,

Eight sites were under investigation, the inquiry heard.

Radford also confirmed Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions were the subject of Worksafe probes for Covid-19 breaches.

An investigation into an outbreak at the Cedar Meats site was “ongoing”, Radford said.

Updated

Before going to questions, Daniel Andrews again talks about the legislation he is trying to get passed, which would allow Victoria to extend its state of emergency declaration beyond six months.

I’m not an expert, but a quick whip around of the powers of the other states seems to point to them not actually having a time limit to their state of emergency. They can renew the declaration – and its powers – as often as they want (NSW can just change health regulations and get the same powers).

But Victoria has a maximum of six months. Which will be hit on 13 September.

The legislation will allow the declaration to be extended beyond that date. If successful, the government would still have to regularly renew the declaration, but they’ll be able to do that for a year, rather than six months.

Andrews says conversations with the crossbench are proving fruitful:

I can report to you that we’re having very, very productive discussions with the crossbench and I’m very hopeful that we will get – we will get an outcome that allows the chief health officer to continue to do his important work, allows all of the team to continue to make decisions based on science and evidence that are proportionate to the challenges we face.

That will underpin us opening up. I think we have just got to think for a moment – imagine the plight of the business that were to open up in just a few weeks’ time, and then we don’t have the power to keep people who have got this virus at home. So that becomes a kind of an honesty policy.

Even a handful of those people, perhaps make the wrong choice, and this gets away from us again. Imagine the impact on that business.

Imagine the impact on staff. Imagine the impact across the board. There are some basics here.

And the ability with legal authority to make sure that someone who is positive with this virus stays at home and stays safe away from other people, you simply can’t have an opening-up strategy unless you have the ability to make those sorts of rules. Not the stage 4 hard lockdown rules.

We’re working as hard as we can to get past those, to get well and truly beyond those, but the key to opening up is not going from stage 4 to stage 0, where there are no rules.

There has to be a framework. And it does cover simple things like risking industries, dangerous industries from a Covid-19 point of view, having compulsory safety plans.

Things like people who are positive having to stay at home for that 14-day period. We’re having very productive discussions, as we always do, with the crossbench.

We’re very confident that we will be able to get an outcome that both protects public health but just as importantly allows us to plan for the future with some certainty. Not for a week or a month, but for many months.

The ability to plan and open up a proper plan of jobs and recovery, that’s only possible if you have got the certainty of being able to put rules in place – common sense rules – rules that are proportionate, not just for a very short period of time but for a longer period of time.

That’s what we’re driving at here. That is what we want to try and achieve.

Updated

Disability care in Victoria has 50 active Covid cases and aged care has 1,487

There are 50 active cases in disability care in Victoria.

On aged care, Daniel Andrews says:

In terms of aged care, the total outbreaks that are active is 1,487.

And in terms of outbreaks, our total active outbreaks in aged care is 121.

The combined efforts of our government, the commonwealth government and all agencies, both in aged care, but also in these very complex disability facility settings, is working well.

It is very challenging. But we have seen some significant stability come to those environments.

Updated

Andrews urges more Victorians to come forward for Covid testing after testing numbers drop

Testing is still down in Victoria.

It could be a problem.

Daniel Andrews:

It does make some sense that as you have less symptoms in the community, you have less people who are symptomatic coming forward and getting tested. Lockdown, I think, also makes it perhaps somewhat harder for people to go and get tested. I’ll make a couple of points.

Firstly, having as many people as possible – that is to say, everyone who’s got symptom, even the mildest symptom, come forward and get tested is critically important in our strategy.

It is critically important not only to driving case numbers down, but it’s critically important to us opening up and making sure that businesses can survive, making sure that people can have their job back, that people – there can be new job opportunities across the Victorian economy.

All of that activity is predicated on us having – without putting a number on it – because the number also move around, but all of that activity, all of those rule changes are predicated on us having what the experts believe is a credible and accurate picture of how much virus is out there in the Victorian community.

So, I just say, again, to every single Victorian regardless of your circumstance, regardless of your setting, your postcode, if you have got symptoms, even the mildest of symptoms, as soon as those symptoms start, as soon as there’s an onset of those symptoms, please come forward and get tested.

It’s a massive – a powerful thing that you can do to support everyone across the community in our strategy and our fight against this wildly infectious virus.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Updated

Daniel Andrews press conference

Daniel Andrews:

I’m saddened to have to inform you that there are now 462 Victorians who have lost their life due to this global pandemic.

That is an increase of 24 since yesterday’s report. Of course, our thoughts and best wishes, our sympathies and deepest condolences are with the families of each of those 24 Victorians.

They are comprised of one female in their 60s, three males in their 70s, three males and seven males in their 80, six females and four males in their 90s, 21 of those 24 fatalities are linked to aged care outbreaks and, again, we send our deepest sympathies and condolences to each of those families.

There are 578 Victorians in hospital. 39 of those are receiving intensive care and 16 of those 39 are on a ventilator.

The total of 2,132,679 test results have been received since the beginning of the pandemic.

That is 13,480 since yesterday. I will come back to testing in just a moment.

There are 4,116 cases with an unknown origin, 55 that have been closed out and added to that total since yesterday. 434 health workers who are active cases.

Those numbers have stabilised and are coming down. That is pleasing. We don’t want to see any of our dedicated health workers – regardless of setting or the discipline they work in – contract the virus.

Updated

Wang Xining, the deputy head of mission with the Chinese embassy in Canberra, is speaking to the national press club today.

That will be ... interesting.

Updated

Victorians have been more likely to challenge fines during the coronavirus pandemic, the state’s attorney general says.

Jill Hennessy told the Covid-19 committee on Wednesday fine recipients had been increasingly seeking review of fines, as well as more people indicating they intend to challenge the fine in court.

The attorney general did not provide comparative figures, but the inquiry was told there had been 1,108 Covid-19 fines were being disputed. A further 53 Covid-19 fines were being reviewed by Fines Victoria.

No fines are yet to reach court.

Updated

Most returned travellers moved out of Travelodge Wentworth in Sydney after it was deemed unfit for quarantine standards

It looks like most of the returned travellers have been moved from the Travelodge Wentworth hotel in Sydney after it was deemed unfit to meet the quarantine standards:

As Josh Taylor reported last night:

The move came after guests complained they’d found hair, toenails and dirt in their rooms.

“Hotels that do not meet the expectations are rotated out of the hotels roster,” NSW police said on Tuesday.

“The health, safety and comfort of all quarantined travellers remains a top priority.”

Regular audits are undertaken of infection control practices at quarantine hotels and police officers, security guards and other staff on site are trained in the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by clinical staff, NSW police said.

Returned travellers at the Travelodge Wentworth reported finding sticky door handles in their rooms, clumps of other people’s hair and toenails, and dirt and grime in the bathroom.

Updated

Ahhhh none of us are immune to the glasses fog, no matter how hard advancers work.

The prime minister Scott Morrison at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
The prime minister Scott Morrison at a press conference on Wednesday morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Dan Tehan is introducing his higher education changes bill into the parliament now.

Dan Hurst has taken a look at the bill:

The key element of the deal with the Nationals is removing psychology and social work from being bunched together with the humanities, which are facing a 113% increase in student fees.

The government says this means people studying psychology or social work as part of a pathway to professional qualifications will face annual student fees of $7,950.

Under the government’s original plans, fees in this area were set to rise to $14,500 – the same as law and the humanities. But the newly proposed fee of $7,950 is still higher than the $6,804 that would apply if the legislation failed to pass the Senate.

In order to offset what it says are “fee reductions for psychology and social work”, the government has revealed it will increase the maximum fee for some other disciplines by $250 compared with the original package outlined a few months ago.

The affected disciplines – which are at the lower end of the fee range – include teaching, English, maths, nursing, agriculture, allied health, engineering and several other disciplines.

Victorians in custody contracting coronavirus, inquiry told

There have been 19 young people in custody within Victoria’s youth justice system who have contracted coronavirus during the pandemic, an inquiry has been told.

Victoria’s Covid-19 parliamentary inquiry also heard 23 Victorian prisoners and six staff have tested positive over the course of the crisis.

Five young people who are supervised by youth justice staff in the community have also caught the virus, as have four youth justice staff.

Most of the staff who tested positive were not working while they were infectious, the inquiry heard.

Updated

Queensland police have also launched a criminal investigation into those on board the Lady Pamela luxury yacht which travelled from Melbourne to the Gold Coast.

Updated

Queensland has had 64 flights come in in the last 24 hours, with 2,904 travellers.

Two people were refused entry.

3,412 vehicles were stopped at the borders and 107 people were turned back and 455 people were sent into quarantine.

The 94 children who were released from the Wacol youth detention centre, before the infection was diagnosed, have been cooperative with police and there are “no particular concerns”.

22 people have received notices to appear in court for breaching quarantine, and 78 on-the-spot fines have been issued in relation to the border. So that is now 2,254 on-the-spot fines.

And someone with a border pass, which only allows them to stay in the border region, was found in north Queensland. They were stopped for a random breath test, found out, placed in quarantine, and fined.

Updated

Queensland chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young says so far there has been no community transmission as a result of the first five cases which sparked the new cluster.

Authorities still don’t know how the original person diagnosed with the virus contracted the infection.

Updated

Daniel Andrews will hold his press conference at 10.30am this morning.

Updated

Queensland recorded more than 20,000 Covid tests in the last 24 hours, which makes just one positive result even better news.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has also acknowledged the federal court decision on the borders yesterday:

I just want to briefly mention the federal court decision that came down. I’m quite sure that the Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, will have more to say about that today.

But Queensland also joined with Western Australia in that case. And what that means is that the border measures are there in place to keep the health of their residents safe. So that’s what the federal court has found.

I’m very pleased with that result because that is exactly what I have been saying. That is exactly what Queenslanders have been saying to me as well – that they want us to keep them safe.

So what that means – if we can minimise the virus coming into Queensland, it means it’s keeping the health of our families safe, but also, too, it also means that we are actually allowing the economy to open up here. And that is good for businesses and that’s good for people who are working right across Queensland.

Updated

Scott Morrison has very helpfully intervened in Daniel Andrews’s fight to have the state of emergency declaration extended beyond six months:

I feel terribly for what are going through and I know that announcement by the premier about the extension of addition 12 months, I raised our concerns with the premier about that, I did that directly.

I think it’s important to dispel any uncertainty and get clarity around that issue, people were concerned the lockdowns would extend for another 12 months, there was great concern that would occur.

Now of course that wasn’t what the premier was suggesting at all but in these times we need to be very careful about the announcements that are made and I welcome the fact that he’s clarified that yesterday.

Updated

Queensland records one new case of coronavirus

Queensland has had one new case of Covid diagnosed in the last 24 hours – a close contact of a known case, who has been in isolation.

Updated

The bells are ringing for the parliament sitting.

Sigh

Tasmanians are now eligible for $1,500 paid pandemic leave

Also announced this morning – Tasmanians are now eligible for paid pandemic leave:

Tasmanian workers are now eligible for a $1,500 pandemic leave disaster payment if they cannot work because they need to self-isolate or quarantine.

The Australian government has extended pandemic leave disaster payment arrangements to include Tasmania following agreement with the Tasmanian government.

It is a lump sum payment to help workers during their 14-day self-isolation period and applies from 22 August 2020.

If an individual is instructed by a health official to stay home from work, and has used up all their sick leave entitlements, including any special pandemic leave, they may be eligible to make a claim. People may also be eligible if they’re the parent or guardian of a child aged 16 or under who is a close contact or has tested positive for Covid-19.

Tasmanians workers are eligible for the payment if they are not receiving income, earnings or salary maintenance from work, receiving the jobkeeper payment or other forms of Australian government income support. The payment can be claimed again should an extended quarantine period longer than 14 days be instructed by health officials.

To date in Victoria more than $8.8m has been paid for almost 6,000 granted claims since 6 August.

The fastest and easiest way to make a claim is over the phone by calling 180 22 66.

Please do not visit a service centre. Further information is available at http://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/disaster.

Updated

It seems from another lifetime ago - but the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security report into press freedom in Australia is due to be tabled in the House today.

Labor’s Canberra MP Alicia Payne will be on maternity leave from next week – we wish her all the best.

It will probably also be the last parliament sitting this year for Labor’s Lilley MP Anika Wells – Wells is pregnant with twins, and anyone familiar with multiple births knows there tends to be an accelerated timeline, so it is doubtful airlines will allow her to fly from Queensland for the October sitting.

All of the sleep and happiness to both MPs and their families.

Updated

Anthony Albanese followed up his 7.30 interview yesterday with an appointment with breakfast television on the Seven network this morning.

As you would expect he spoke about aged care:

Q: It is a bit confusing for average Australians though because you’ve got Health Department involved in aged care as well and making decisions. Also state governments too. Isn’t it a shared blame?

Albanese:

What we had was the Prime Minister stand in his courtyard way back in February and he waved around document saying, ‘This is how we will deal with this’. It explicitly said of course that aged care was the responsibility of the Federal Government because it is on a day-to-day basis. The states run the hospital system, the Federal Government runs aged care. They regulate it, they fund it. They set up the accreditation agency. It is all a Federal responsibility.

Q: The prime minister is also saying 97% of aged care facilities have had no infections at all. Is that a fair point?

Albanese:

It is a heartless comment, frankly. And I was shocked when he said that. I think it does not pay appropriate respect to the fact that we have 335 people who were in aged care residence who have passed. And their families are grieving. We have circumstances whereby, I know, I will never forget saying goodbye to my mum. It was many years ago. She only lived to 65. But I got to say goodbye to her. These people are saying goodbye to their loved ones on FaceTime. And they deserve better than just the prime minister saying that 97% is OK.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

Another vaccine announcement - this time, committing to help Australia’s neighbours for when there is a vaccine:

Australia will support the Gavi COVAX Facility Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) to improve access for Pacific and Southeast Asian countries to safe, effective and affordable COVID-19 vaccines.

The COVAX AMC will secure and distribute COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, not just those that can afford to purchase or manufacture vaccines themselves.

Australia’s contribution of $80 million will help secure COVID-19 vaccines for Pacific Island and Southeast Asian countries. The AMC will address the acute phase of the pandemic, providing doses for up to 20 percent of countries’ populations in its first phase, ensuring that health care workers and vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, have access.

Access to vaccines will play a critical role in the economic recovery of our region from this pandemic.

Pacific countries eligible for COVAX AMC support include Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Kiribati. Eligible countries from Southeast Asia are Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, The Philippines and Vietnam.

Australia’s investment builds on our strong support for Gavi. Australia will continue to promote health security in our region through our role as the Vice-Chair of the Gavi Board.

International investment in vaccine manufacturing and procurement is stronger when nations work together. In making this investment, Australia joins key donors such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy and Norway.

The COVAX AMC forms part of the wider COVAX Facility, a global mechanism designed to enable rapid, fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines to end the acute phase of the pandemic by 2021.

Anthony Albanese was on Sydney radio 2SM this morning once again calling for Richard Colbeck to be sacked.

He also mentioned this, which goes to some of the wider issues in aged care, even before the pandemic, which are still to be addressed. Even though we know about them. And have, for some time.

Albanese: Last Thursday, Susan Templeman, who’s our fantastic local member servicing the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, invited me Richmond to sit down with families of aged care residents. And the stories I heard were quite shocking. One spoke about how she asked what her mum was being fed, the menu. Now, Monday was sausage rolls for dinner. Tuesday was party pies. Wednesday was a croissant.

Q: A croissant for dinner?

Albanese:

It had cheese in it, I think. Essentially frozen stuff that you can buy, no brand, at Coles and Woolies. it would have cost $1 each for dinner for people who should be getting sustenance and people who should be in a position whereby, this is a private facility where a woman’s paying substantial fees, and this facility has failed its accreditation.

And when the residents’ families sought to, because the inspection body, believe it or not, they give notice when they’re going to inspect a facility. So, you’ve got a week to clean up your act.

When they asked to see the people in charge, these bureaucrats, when they went through the issues that they had at the facility, they were told, ‘We are not the complaints unit’.

And these family members said, ‘Well, who are we supposed to complain to?’ The system is simply not functioning properly.

And what we had is that report last year. And then we had earlier in the year, because the outbreaks, of course, were first in Europe and not in Australia, we could see what was coming, and all of the advice was that older people were particularly vulnerable to this pandemic.

And in spite of that, there was no response put in place. No plan put in place by the federal government, which it has got to be said, they fund and regulate aged care. The federal government are responsible.

Then you had Dorothy Henderson Lodge in March and Newmarch House in April. So, we could see the issues that were there. Again, no plans put in place. And the Royal Commissioners have said that there was no plan in place. And what’s the Federal Government’s response?

They criticise the Royal Commission that they established. The Royal Commissioners that they appointed. This is simply not good enough. Older Australians have built this nation.

They are deserving of respect and to live out their later years with dignity. And the fact is that one of the people said to me last week, that one of the things about a pandemic is it’s like an X-ray, it shows what is broken.

Well, this system is broken. I met with aged care workers at the Health Services Union last Tuesday, and one of the things that they were talking about is the fact that they’ve got to work at two or three facilities which is one of the ways in which this virus has spread. Because they get paid $19 an hour.

There’s casualised employment. There is not a proper workforce plan. We don’t have the right number of nurses, carers and other workers in these facilities.

Updated

This is quite the way to write $903,000.

Updated

Victoria Health has now released those official figures

University of Queensland vaccine trial 'positive'

AAP has some vaccine update news – this time on the Univeristy of Queensland research:

Early testing of a potential Covid-19 vaccine being worked on by the University of Queensland has resulted in “positive indications” about its possible effectiveness in humans.

The findings from the pre-clinical trials conducted on hamsters have been reported to the International Society for Vaccines by project co-leader and UQ Associate Professor Keith Chappell.

“The neutralising immune response created by our molecular clamp vaccine in animal models was better than the average level of antibodies found in patients who have recovered from Covid-19,” Chappell said in a statement on Wednesday.

In the hamsters trial, the potential vaccine – when combined with MF59 technology developed by Seqirus, a unit of Australian biotechnology group CSL – provided protection against virus replication and reduced lung inflammation following exposure to the virus.

“It also induces a strong T-cell response and showed strong results when it came to data relating to manufacturability,” Chappell said.

Researchers say one of the biggest challenges in developing a vaccine for Covid-19 is the ability to produce enough for widespread use.

“We are working with CSL to ensure the production yield is as efficient as possible, and have every confidence they will be able to manufacture the millions of doses required to protect the Australian public,” Chappell said.

Queensland innovation minister Kate Jones said the results were a huge milestone in the development of a vaccine in the state.

Meanwhile, the federal government is supporting an initiative to help Pacific and south-east Asian countries access a coronavirus vaccine.

The government has put $80m towards the Gavi Covax Facility Advance Market Commitment, alongside other donors including the UK, Canada, Italy and Norway.

“International investment in vaccine manufacturing and procurement is stronger when nations work together,” foreign affairs minister Marise Payne said.

Updated

Kristina Keneally has stopped by doors this morning – she has addressed Russell Broadbent’s comments to Murph:

Aged care is a federal responsibility; it is Scott Morrison’s responsibility full stop.

As of yesterday, 335 aged care residents have died of COVID-19. In aged care facilities, there now 1,100 active cases of coronavirus, and I express my condolences to the family members of those who have died and my support and best wishes to those aged care residents who are currently battling coronavirus.

We have to ask - how many of those deaths were preventable? How many cases of coronavirus in residential aged care were preventable? If only Scott Morrison and Richard Colbeck had heeded the warning calls - and there have been so many warning calls.

There were in April, the outbreaks in Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge in New South Wales.

There’s the call from Scott Morrison’s own backbencher Russell Broadbent.

Russell Broadbent in 2017 resigned from his parliamentary positions because he was so frustrated at the Government’s lack of action at aged care in his electorate.

Russell Broadbent who says this morning that the Government put profits over care. Profits over people; that’s the aged care system that Scott Morrison’s own colleagues describe. Scott Morrison and Richard Colbeck are presiding over an aged care system that puts profits over people.

And we know from Russell Broadbent, today, that he raised these concerns, and he says back in 2017, and ever since, I’ve been raising these concerns, raising these warning bells, and I have been ignored.

Senator Kristina Keneally.
Senator Kristina Keneally. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

And given that the Liberals, the National’s senior partners in the Coalition tend to have a whole “free market” belief going on, how will this work if it means telling supermarkets what they can and can’t do (although we have seen a lot of eroding of that whole free market philosophy when it comes to things like energy companies lately, so you know, the precedents are there.)

David Littleproud:

Well, this is a core principle of the National party around fairness.

We’re a Coalition partner and we’re proud to make sure we protect our constituency with fairness. As I said, this isn’t about regulating prices, this is simply making sure that there is a framework of fairness in how all parties deal with one another.

There is a grocery code of conduct at the moment, but it very much only focuses on the big companies, not on small family farms. And I think what we’re saying is these small family farms don’t have much power, don’t have any legal recourse because they don’t have the financial means in which to prosecute.

So is there a framework that needs to be put in place? And if you’re doing the right thing, it costs nobody anything and so the supermarkets who proclaim they have done nothing wrong, they should fear nothing. Even if there was regulation, it costs them nothing anyway.

Updated

Speaking to the ABC this morning, David Littleproud said this inquiry would be different to the other inquiries:

Well, this is where we’re going to make sure it is only three months, it’s on the dairy code of conduct extension, which only went to the processor level, and we’ll look to have this done by Christmas as well as these other agricultural perishable goods.

We heard a lot of anecdotal evidence. ACCC has, in fact, got past evidence around this.

What we’re trying to do is to try to quantify it and validate it. To make sure if there is an imbalance, there needs to be looked at and regulated in terms of a Code of Conduct, then we will act quickly.

We don’t want to kick this into the grass.

Farmers can come forward a confidential manner with the ACCC without recourse or fear of retribution from any of their supply chains. We’re going to do this and sort this out once and for all.

Updated

The federal government wants the ACCC to investigate agricultural chains, from farm to the store, to see how farmers are being treated.

From David Littleproud and Josh Frydenberg:

The Government will direct the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to undertake an inquiry into harmful imbalances of bargaining power between farmers, intermediaries, including processors, and retailers in the domestic supply chains of perishable agricultural goods in Australia.

The Government is focussed on ensuring the right domestic policy settings are in place, and is directing the ACCC to examine the nature of bargaining power in the supply chains for perishable agricultural goods covering meat (pork, lamb, beef), poultry (chicken meat and eggs), seafood, and horticulture goods where not already covered by a mandatory industry code.

This inquiry will examine whether imbalances in bargaining relationships exist and the extent to which they can be addressed through existing regulatory arrangements. The ACCC will be provided the power to seek evidence, documents and information from businesses within the domestic supply chain to assess if there is a harmful imbalance of bargaining power occurring.

The ACCC will also examine the effectiveness of the new Dairy Code of Conduct including by considering options to extend the code across the entire domestic dairy supply chain.

In conducting its inquiry, the ACCC is to have regard to the interests of Australian consumers and how the impacts of unreasonable bargaining power imbalances in the supply chain can affect them.

Goodness. It’s almost like the Queensland election is upon us. And like National electorates in NSW and Victoria have been screaming for someone to look at this for years and there is suddenly a reason to look at it!

Scott Morrison responded to reports Tony Abbott (maybe) has a new job on the UK’s board of trade and (if so, maybe not, as reported by the Sun, as joint president).

A good hire. I think that’s a good hire.

Updated

Victorian health minister reports 24 more deaths and 149 new coronavirus cases

We haven’t got the official announcement from Victoria Health yet, but Jenny Mikakos is speaking on ABC radio.

Updated

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will hold her press conference at 9.30am today.

Updated

'Australians wouldn't want me distracted' – Scott Morrison addresses Victorian Liberal allegations

Scott Morrison made plenty of time to set a test for Anthony Albanese’s leadership in June, when the Victorian Labor branch stacking allegations were revealed – there were interviews and question time attacks and comments about being focussed on jobs while the Labor party was in rack and ruin.

But now that he is facing questions over the Liberals’ behaviour in Victoria, which implicates one of his own frontbenchers – Michael Sukkar, Morrison is very busy being focussed solely on the pandemic.

He has made his first public comments on the matter (he has not held a press conference until today):

These matters have been referred by the Department of Finance and that’s the appropriate response and that’s where ... No, I’ve been dealing with the Covid crisis. I’ve been dealing with getting people back into jobs. The matter has been referred to the Department of Finance. I don’t think that Australians would want me distracted by those issues at all.

Updated

CFMEU quits Queensland Labor left faction

This is quite the declaration of war within the Queensland Labor party – the CFMEU has announced it is immediately quitting the left faction.

That will have some serious implications for the power balance in the party:

The CFMEU will be withdrawing from the left faction of the Queensland ALP, effective immediately.

Both the Mining and the Construction & General divisions of the CFMEU have decided the union can be a more effective advocate for workers as a voice totally independent of a faction that has lost touch with its core values.

“The leadership vacuum in the left has seen a once-powerful voice for working Queenslanders atrophy to the point where today it is little more than a creche for party hacks,” CFMEU construction division secretary Michael Ravbar said.

“The left factional leadership have consistently devoted far more energy to internal intrigues and power plays than to driving a policy platform that reflects both socially and economically progressive values.”

“In the process the faction has become little more a protection racket for dud members such as Jackie Trad, who as former Deputy Premier bears much of the blame for the failure to look after workers’ interests even on major public projects such as Cross River Rail.”

“Quite simply the so-called left faction is now merely an impotent and self-serving echo chamber for a cabal of Peel Street elite who have totally lost touch with their working class roots.”

“While the CFMEU will remain affiliated with the ALP, the union will be a more potent force free of any formal factional links.”

“Our only factional alignment is with the interests of our members.”

Updated

The federal government’s aged care response during the pandemic will once again dominate parliament.

Which makes this from Murph very interesting

The Victorian Liberal Russell Broadbent has fired a broadside about aged care, describing recent events in his home state as a “disaster waiting to happen” and calling on Scott Morrison to boost investment in not-for-profit care.

Broadbent resigned from two parliamentary positions in protest against the government’s treatment of aged care in his electorate in 2017, and on Tuesday told Guardian Australia he had been attempting to sound a warning about the sector’s vulnerability for years “but I was ignored completely”.

Successive governments over 30 years have handed the care of people into the private sector, and that has been a mistake,” the veteran federal government MP said. “Profit became more important than care. This was a disaster waiting to happen.”

There has been some shifts in the border rules, but there are still major issues.

Well that was a whirlwind

Scott Morrison had a very early appointment this morning as part of this announcement.

As Katharine Murphy reported:

The package, to be unveiled on Wednesday, includes a $300m capital works program, including repairs to the defence estate in bushfire-affected regions on the south coast of New South Wales, as well as RAAF bases in East Sale, Pearce, Wagga Wagga and Amberley, the Albury/Wodonga military area and Blamey barracks.

Funding of $190m will be allocated to seven infrastructure projects in the Northern Territory across the Robertson barracks, RAAF base Darwin, Larrakeyah defence precinct and the Delamere air weapons range.

In the bring-forward of previously budgeted portfolio expenditure, the government will also allocate an extra 210,000 days for reservists, and create a budget for the recruitment of an additional 500 defence reserve personnel, at a cost of around $80m.

Good morning

We are at the halfway mark for the first parliamentary sitting since June and it already feels like a year has passed. Today, the government will introduce the jobkeeper extension legislation, which will pass, with Labor’s support. But any tapering of the rate doesn’t need to be done through legislation - that is easily achieved through regulation.

Josh Frydenberg said 400,000 Victorians were unemployed during yesterday’s question time – across Australia, that figure is more than a million – but the government is still to commit to extending the jobseeker Covid unemployment supplement beyond its slated December end date.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Tony Abbott has a new job


Daniel Andrews has a fight on his hands after announcing he wanted to extend Victoria’s state of emergency declaration, which is due to expire in mid-September. That is the last extension of the declaration, which allows police more powers, as well as give public health officials extraordinary powers, including restrictions on movements. The other states can extend their declarations (or in the case of NSW, just change health regulations to grant the powers it wants) but Victoria has a maximum of six months written into its legislation. It wants to extend that maximum time period a state of emergency can be declared to a year. That doesn’t mean lockdown will be extended though.

The extension legislation has become the flashpoint in tensions between the federal government and Victoria to explode. In yesterday’s question time, federal ministers, including the prime minister, lined up to criticise Victoria’s handling of the pandemic.

That is a marked break from the bipartisan ‘we are all in this together’ narrative Scott Morrison had publicly been pushing (although it’s not the first time the federal MPs had criticised Andrews, or the first time stories critical of the Victorian response had been briefed out) But keep an eye on that.

In NSW, small amounts of community transmission continue to keep authorities on their toes.

Late yesterday, NSW Health sent out this alert:

NSW Health is investigating two cases of Covid-19 who attended City Tattersalls Fitness Centre on Pitt Street. Anyone who attended this venue on August 19, 21 or 23 should be alert for symptoms, and if any develop get tested and self-isolate immediately. NSW Health is working closely with City Tattersalls Fitness Centre to directly contact close contacts.

NSW Health is also alerting people who may have been to 300 George Street Sydney on August 19, 20, 21 or 24 to be alert for symptoms, and if any develop to get tested and self-isolate immediately, after one of the cases worked here while infectious.

Queensland is also keeping an eye on community transmission as contact tracers rush to get a lid on a cluster which popped up late last week, after an employee at a youth detention centre tested positive for Covid. Genomic testing is still underway, but the strain of the newest infection is the same as one of the women who went to Melbourne and skipped out on quarantine after allegedly lying on her border declaration pass. That, as the Queensland CMO, Dr Jeannette Young, said yesterday doesn’t mean a link – that strain is the most common one in Melbourne at the moment – so more testing is under way. But Queensland thinks it might have missed a case of community transmission, which is why everyone with symptoms is being asked to get a test.

We’ll bring you all the day’s politics and Covid news as it happens. You have Amy Remeikis with you for the day. I’m about to get my third coffee for the morning, and then we’ll get into it.

Ready?

Updated

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